A billion dollars will be raised by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in order to rapidly increase cultivated areas and partly respond to the losses of Ukrainian crops.
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There may still be time to reduce the risk of food shortages looming in Africa, provided we act very quickly. This is why the African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced the raising of one billion dollars aimed at stimulating wheat production in Africa.
The objective is to avoid food shortages linked to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. If the conflict between the two countries does not end soon, a supply crisis will be devastating, many analysts warn that African countries will be among the worst affected. Ukraine and Russia together produce more than a quarter of world wheat exports.
Warning signs, the prices of oils, wheat, soybeans, rapeseed and corn increased by nearly 30% at the beginning of March, not to mention the prices of fuels like those of fertilizers which are also soaring. Large importing African countries must cushion the explosion of costs for their farmers and thus avoid food riots.
“If there is a time when we really need to drastically increase food production in Africa, for its food security and to mitigate the impact of this food crisis stemming from this war, it is now.”
Akinwumu Adesina, President of the AfDBat AFP
For the president of the African financial institution, the AfDB’s plan aims to increase the production of wheat, rice, soybeans and other crops to feed about 200 million Africans. Adesina said the African Development Bank is currently raising funds to help 40 million African farmers use climate-resilient technologies and increase their production of heat-tolerant varieties of wheat and other crops.
The bank cites Ethiopia as an example, which has increased its wheat production and hopes to be self-sufficient within three years. And why not, one day, export this wheat to Egypt, the world’s leading importer of cereals.